Rage Beneath the Red
by Caoimhe Rose
Summary: The safety video may tell you to haul yourself onto the rowing shell after it capsizes or to float beside while you wait for help but that won't save you on the Red River. You have two options: Haul ass or don't flip.


Chapter 1: Stretch, Row, Scream

Slipping a lightweight yellow tank top over her pink and green sports bra a dark blue haired teen girl looked at her reflection in the mirror hanging off the back of her bedroom door. Noticing her running shorts were beginning to creep up her thighs she pulled them down. Slipping into a pair of flip-flops that obviously had seen better days she grasped the cords of her sports bag before turning off the lights and exiting her room.

Walking down a short hallway she turned right into a warm, sun filled, kitchen. She smiled, her hazel eyes sparkling, and bounced on her toes. "I'm heading to practice mom." The girl walked over to the freezer, opening the door and letting cool air escape into the summer heat. Grabbing a frozen water bottle from the shelving on the door she let the door softly close as she stuffed the bottle into her sports bag.

Her mom looked up from the pile of papers in front of her, a red pen in hand, and laughed. "You can see your sports bra through your tank top Chelsea."

Chelsea rolled her eyes after glancing down at her chest. "Mom its fine. I mean as soon as I hit the river I am just wearing the sports bra anyways." The heat from the sun's rays bouncing from the surface of the river made even the cool evening practices sometimes unbearably hot.

Her mom shook her head going back to grading her papers. "I know honey, I'm just bugging you. Are you going to leave your hair down like that?"

"For now until I get to the club. Annie promised to French braid it," Chelsea told her mom running her fingers through her hair. She glanced at the ticking clock and squealed in surprise. "Oh my gosh I have to go! Annie told me to come half hour before practice." Walking over to her mom, she wrapped her arms around her quickly.

Laughing Chelsea's mom pushed her gently towards the door. "Have fun with Annie, Chelsea, and please be safe on the water. I love you!"

"Love you to mom!" Chelsea smiled and waved before closing the front door screen behind her. "See you in a couple of hours."

* * *

"Thank for braiding my hair." The two girls sat on the top step of a large wooden staircase. Around them a light, refreshing, breeze toyed with the leaves on a small tree growing near the edge of the riverbank. The river sparkled under the hot sun above it while its water gently lapped against the dock.

"No problem! I love playing with your hair." Annie smiled as she nimbly twisted the blue hair together. "I can't believe how long your hair is now. To think that only a year ago it was just past your ears." Above them, a door creaked open before slamming shut and two sets of heavy footsteps ran along the deck.

Chelsea grumbled, as the two teenage boys noisily made their way down to the tarmac, crossing her arms across her chest in annoyance. "When can we move out of junior competitive again? I honestly don't even enjoy being in this group anymore."

Annie laughed and flicked Chelsea lightly. "Chelsea you don't mean it. The only reason you want to move to recreational is that the group Brandon is in."

"No!" Chelsea protested, even though her cheeks were growing a bit red, at her friend's exact observations. "I just find getting all worked up about competitions is more effort than the real competition. Plus Tweedle and Twadelle just take things too far." Memories of the two goons laughing at her scores and race times made her slouch further on the stair.

"They are idiots," another girl reminded her as she began stretching and warming up. Her short blonde hair hung limply as she bent over to touch her toes. "But if they are the reason behind you quitting then you should probably take a long hard look at why you are letting them have such control over you."

"Sabrina's right you know," Annie wrapped a hot pink hair tie at the base of Chelsea's French braid before letting it drop. She laughed as the blue haired girl grumbled as she joined Sabrina and began stretching.

Chelsea stayed seated on the wooden stairs not wanting to move more than necessary in the heat. Watching the two girls stretching and laughing with each other she felt lonely. She just was not interested in competition anymore nor did she feel that she could keep up with them. Jealousy raged in her gut as she thought back to how they would beat her by minutes in every time trial or how they made everything so effortless. Out of their team of five any one could tell it was plainly obvious she took residence as weakest link.

"Alright gather around you guys," a tall man, closely cropped brown hair, clapped his hands to get their attention. Standing up Chelsea walked over to join the four other teens grouped around him. "Next week is the first regatta of the season. I know all of you have signed up for events so for the practice today we are going to work on ironing out all the kinks and technical difficulties you are having." He glanced down at the papers clipped to his water-stained clipboard. Holding her breath Chelsea hoped that he would put her in a double with Annie. "Michael and Andres you will be in the Wizzer; Annie and Sabrina you will be in the Clarie-bell; Chelsea you will be in the Zola." Giving her coach the evil eye Chelsea sighed heavily before turning into the boathouse to collect her P.D.F. and oars.

* * *

"You will be fine," he said, as he held the port oar of the Zola. "Just start small and don't move into full strokes till you are one hundred percent comfortable." Chelsea nodded again as she gripped the oar handles tightly. A sheen of nervous sweat clung to the base of her braid. "Ready? One, two, three."

Chelsea pushed against her coach so that the single easily slipped off the dock and into the mercy of the river's powerful flow. Nervously she dipped the oar blades into the water and began pulling her single shell across the Red River.

* * *

Something hit the under belly of the Zola just as Chelsea reached the first bend in the Red River leading to the marina. Feeling the boat's balance going off she stopped rowing to recollect herself and take a sip of water. Her hands shook with nerves as she brought the plastic water bottle to her lips, letting the cool water race down her dry throat. Taking a deep breath Chelsea tried to grasp her oars once more but they slipped from her hands. A second bump against the hull made her breath catch in her throat and adrenaline began pumping through her veins.

"It's just a tree branch," she told herself when she finally got her boat moving again. "You have nothing to worry about." She focused on the end of the boat trying to keep her breath regular. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something breach the surface of the murky river just as she began to enter the marina. Fear pulsed through her stomach. Pulling with new vigor Chelsea's boat sailed past the moored motor boats wanting to put as much space she could between herself and whatever she just saw.

Chills crawled up Chelsea's arms as she passed the dock for the Canoe Club; lengthening her strokes she added more power. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled when the two doubles appeared before her with the coach boat circling them. As she turned away from her teammates and coach in the blink of eye river water was burning her lungs. Disoriented she reached through the water trying to find the quick release for her feet.

Spluttering to the surface, she dragged lungful after lungful of air through both her nose and open mouth. Kicking with her feet to stay afloat she released the P.F.D. from its pouch at her waist and inflated it. Fear drenched her as she felt the water around her go cold. Grasping for the bright orange whistled she pulled it from the dirty water and without hesitating fiercely blew into it. The icy water seemed to grow colder, escalating Chelsea's fears of not making it to shore, or even the top of her upturned shell. As she kept kicking, the muscles in her thighs twitched heavily once before locking. Chelsea knew she was in trouble and began blowing into the whistle harder, praying that her coach would hear it.

As a full minute passed, Chelsea could feel her muscles clenching and ultimately failing, before she realized she would have to try to make it to shore. Previous training screamed at her to attempt pulling herself on top of the hull of her rowing shell but she knew it would not work. Her energy levels, even with buoyancy from her P.F.D., were no longer available. Eyeing the distance between her shell and the shore Chelsea took a deep breath before painfully reaching out and slowly pulling herself through the water.

Something brushed her bare leg. Pausing for a moment, fear chewing away at her stomach, she took a breath before moving her arms again. Without warning Chelsea shrieked as something gripped her ankle and pulled her beneath the surface of the murky Red River.

* * *

**Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter from Rage Beneath the Red. I have been reading some of the other Martin Mystery fanfictions after watching Martin Mystery on youtube again. I am looking forward to reading your comments though I have this feeling some may not get all the rowing jargon that I threw into this chapter. No worries, if you really need to know just mention it in your comment and I will get back to you.**

**I have set this fanfiction in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) where I live so I can promise all locations and their descriptions will be as accurate as possible. I also row, and have flipped my boat in the Red, so again the technicality will be accurate.**

**Thank you for reading this (long) note! Have a fantastic day and Happy Mother's Day!**


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